Best rationalization that Beer doesn't give you the belly

[user 246304]

OK. I used to be a svelte, Chicago and LA actor guy, heavy athlete (not long before, 20K meters daily swimming) who never touched beer until getting married. Estonians love beer (and vodka, and zubrovka, and...). I found I liked to be Estonian.

I fell. Hard. For craft beer. My wife got me an IPA kit one Christmas and we're off to the races. Like all of us, I went absolutely nuts and brewed like a crazy person.

Unfortunately, I soon found out the whole beer belly thing isn't just in men's health magazines.

Even more unfortunately, 58 and working out, except for very "take it easy" walking, is out.

So, you're habits? How do you stay in your 34 jeans, while drinking copious amounts of craft beer?

 

[vtipsy]

I'm trying to be as active as I can with the simplistic notion that calories in gotta equal calories out.

I'm trying to exercise at least 3 times a week. I've always been skinny but I've started lifting weights with the idea that carrying more muscle I'll burn more calories. When I don't exercise the belly gets big pretty fast because while exercise sometimes grinds to a halt, drinking never seems to.

34. Married to a Ukrainian. Recently moved to LA.

 

[day_trippr]

lol! From the title I was expecting a testimonial, not a search for a solution. Damn!

[edit] Given all of the significant reversals in medical popular opinion over the last decade I'm holding out for a huge adjustment to BMI implications

 

[Bilsch]

I just cut out the food.

 

[grampamark]

I must not drink enough beer. I'm 68 and my weight hasn't varied by more than +/- 5 lbs for the last 30 years. Lots of manual labor probably has something to do with that.

 

[S-Met]

It's important to remember that circle is a shape.

Its not the beer, its the calories.

 

[McKnuckle]

In my early 50's. Have a genetically athletic build to start with, but I exercise (running or lifting) six days a week for 30-60 minutes. Limit beer to about a pint a day, maybe twice as much on Saturday night.

I still eat too much pasta despite my awareness of the pitfalls...

It's not just the pounds - it's your blood pressure and other metabolic factors you need to worry about at our age. My thought is if you chronically over-indulge, you may need to cut out alcohol entirely at some point - so why not do what's practical to avoid that situation?

 

[tellyho]

1 beer a day, ride my bike 9.5 mi to work and at least one big ride on the weekend. But really, I'm genetically fortunate in the weight department.

 

[Miraculix]

I do not like to do too much excessive exercise. My joints also don't like it.

But I see the necessaty to train to stay in shape. I really like what this guy here is writing on the subject of gaining muscles and weight loss on his homepage, so far it works pretty well for me.

www.baye.com

I understand that there is no hustle free training, but I like to maximise my results by focusing on what's important and this gives me great results with about 1h per week... But it is obviously important to look at what you eat and drink. And don't be fooled, those 30 minutes twice per week are probably the hardest training I've ever done and I trained with some insane martial arts guys for years.

 

[eric19312]

I've been reducing carbs with good effect. Belly had gotten out of control and needed to diet. Went very low carb initially but now have added back a certain amount. Targeting 50-60 grams total carbs per day with calories at about 85% of my daily burn. Trying to walk every day...usually morning and evening. Evening walk may include a stop at the dog friendly local brewery for a pint .

In keeping with the low carb diet I've been studying carb content of commercial craft beers and homebrew. I have bad news and good news. The bad news is that many of these are loaded with carbs. That brewery makes a tasty IPA. Serves it in a pint glass that is really about 18 oz. 7.3% alcohol and I think the final gravity is 1.015 or so. Checking the stats on mrgoodbeer's calculator that brings this pint in at 33 grams...more than half my daily total...and 345 calories. So I don't drink that IPA anymore. Insead I drink their more sessionable IPA which measures out to 18 grams of carbs and 223 calories for the 18 oz pour. Still a bit high for everyday but manageable.

For homebrew, since starting the diet I've changed my brewing style and focused exclusively on brewing brut IPA. These extremely dry beers can apparantly get quite close to zero carbs. I haven't got the recipe fully dialed in yet but am quite looking forward to next batch which was pilsner/corn/oat malts and a huge whirlpool addition of azaca hops. Dry hopped with azaca and centennial it appears on my tilt hydrometer to have finished bone dry... below 1.000 for sure may be quite close to zero carbs at 8% ABV.

 

[balrog]

I've replaced the bearings on my elliptical machine over a dozen times, and welded some parts, and finally replaced it.

3-5 tiems a week. 30m. Sweat like the pig who knows he's dinner. Main thing I have to watch is sitting at night, watching movie/tv, DO NOT EAT. That's my downfall.

 

[kh54s10]

I haven't been in size 34 since my teens. My biggest girth was attained when I wasn't drinking nearly as much beer as I do now.

Over the years my body has seemed to stabilize at a small range of weight fluctuation that doesn't seem to change much with how much I drink. I have cut down a little on the beer, but my weight hasn't dropped.

I really should get more exercise.......

 

[TurnipGreen]

The single thing that helped me to manage my weight and drinking was having kids. I can’t drink as much because I like my kids, and if I’m not on my ‘A’ game, i’ll miss something with them. Likewise, we eat really well and a wide variety in our house, lots of vegetables, fruit, home cooked meals, because if we don’t the kiddos would eat nothing but hotdogs and ketchup. That and the fact that our ethnic food is important to my family. That sappy stuff aside.

I consider beer a snack. I run three to four times a week. I only drink on days I run..... or holidays, brew days, packaging days, if friends stop by, or if anyone offers me a beer. Oh and certain foods need beer. There’s no sense in eating pizza, tacos, or really most things I make for dinner without a beer.

 

[Kee]

The classic advice still holds, "eat [real] food, not too much, mostly plants". I try to keep my consumption of processed foods (some of which are designed to make you crave more) to a minimum. My normal beer limit is two a day (which my doctor would say is one too many, since most are high gravity), but that doesn't work if I start too early, so I just don't drink in the afternoons.

Sleep is underrated. Lack of sleep is related to weight gain.

 

[MaxStout]

Portion control. I've been eating the same stuff, only less. Same story with drinking--less. Getting more exercise. And I knocked off the snacking, as chips, crackers and crap like that add a load of carbs. I've dropped over 20 pounds since winter. Went from a 38" waist to 36". Would like to lose 10 more lbs. and maintain that.

Like anything good in this world--beer, cheeseburgers, ribs--I've come to realize I can't consume it regularly and in the amounts I used to. I now consider those things a treat. So my beer consumption is limited to 2 at a session, and I don't drink every day. When visiting a new taproom I might have 3 or 4, but that's not very often anymore. And a 5 gallon batch of homebrew lasts for months.

 

[schematix]

I plan my calories roughly 50/50 for food/beer. About 1200 for food and 1200 for beer. If I eat more i switch to scotch or wine since they have a better calorie to unit alcohol ratio than even the best beer (bud light platinum).

 

[balrog]

The single thing that helped me to manage my weight and drinking was having kids.

Interesting. I found the exact opposite. Esp as the girls got older.

than even the best beer (bud light platinum).

Ok. There's something srsly wrong with that phrase...

 

[schematix]

Ok. There's something srsly wrong with that phrase...

"Best" in terms of volume of alcohol per calorie ratio. More or less it's just carbonated vodka water.

 

[bracconiere]

i'm 6'2", and weigh 175....wear 34's....(vanity sizing of course), my waist is actually 36"'s....drink Brüt APA, get's me 8% instead of 6%, for about the same calories...And have been using a program called CRON-O-Meter for 10 years to stay healthy and thin, kinda like balancing my check book, but with food...

and i assure you 'copious' is an understatement about how much i drink!

 

[bracconiere]

but i wouldn't say it's not a challenge! the increase in 2015 was because i wasn't measuring my beer right! (thus the graduations you can see on my glass now!)

 

[balrog]

Good GOD, man!

I've not seen sub-200 since I was in graduate school, about a hunert years ago.

 

[OG-wan Kenobi]

So, you're habits? How do you stay in your 34 jeans, while drinking copious amounts of craft beer?

You write a 4 over the 8

 

[balrog]

Also, is it weird that as brewing, obsessive dataphile, we graph things like our weight?

 

[schematix]

I don't want to return to sub-200s again. I was freezing all the time. A little insulation is good.

 

[bracconiere]

Also, is it weird that as brewing, obsessive dataphile, we graph things like our weight?

LOL! you should see me around money! i started obsessively charting that when i was ~23, and decided i got my last overdraft from the bank....

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Good GOD, man!

I've not seen sub-200 since I was in graduate school, about a hunert years ago.

I haven't seen sub-200 since about the age of 16. To be sub-200 again would probably require me losing a limb.

Granted, part of it is that I'm 6'5". But I don't think I'd feel healthy anywhere below 220.

 

[pvpeacock]

It's not the beer, it's the food:
https://warm1069.com/man-loses-34-lbs-in-a-month-by-only-drinking-beer-and-water/

 

[rhys333]

No beer belly. High metabolism (which helps), and I bike a lot during summer and walk to and from work in winter. I also eat well as I consider it. Oats for breakfast and lots of beans and lentils, which makes a HUGE difference in overall health. I'm no vegimatarian though. 33 pants and maybe 180 lbs, give or take.

 

[user 246304]

I don't want to return to sub-200s again. I was freezing all the time. A little insulation is good.

I think I may have carried more as a swimmer but it actually was a bit tough as I was a distance competitor - and back then the way you trained a distance guy was to say "8 1500's. See you later." That's 4:30 am or so, then repeat 2:30 - on. Once I got a bit older and moved to stamina events (e.g., 400 m freestyle, 400 m I.M.), I did put on some mass. After college, I got serious about lifting and held about 215, 6'3.

It was living inside a dojo as a direct apprentice to a zen and martial master that really kicked the crap out of everything. I couldn't add weight to save my life. I wish I could have borrowed from now.

Have to say, first, I'm so impressed with you guys being able to do this. And braconniere, I have to say, that seriously impressed me. All the above puts me to shame.

So, I can't work out, save a 15-20 minute walk and even then I pay for it. It sucks but it is what it is. I don't see how I could eat my way into a program allowing it, but you've given a lot of beer for thought. Thanks, everyone.

Edit: Miraculix, just picked up your martial arts mention. Thanks for the link, will check it out. Much like distance swimming, I couldn't keep any wait on at the dojo mostly, I think, because I and a few other uchideshi never stopped training, or teaching at a certain point. Not sure if your joint wear came from your experiences training, but mine sure did, especially the spinal chord (it gifted me with what I have now, 20 years later). For about a year, if I was walking with my wife and sneezed, I was down. Hard to explain that one. No cartilage left at the symphysis, where the hips join, so brutal throws had me going bone on bone, hours a day. Good times!

 

[Zuljin]

Eat less. Move around more. The Walton and Johnson diet.

I could half ass do P90X again and drop 20 pounds in 90 days. More if I hit it hard. Thing is, like Tony says, you have to keep pressing play. Keto also works, but damn, that's a hard dietary lifestyle for me to maintain.

Gonna have to do something, though. Yard work and walking the banks or paddling the kayak a few times a month isn't enough.

 

[balrog]

Just walking 10m a day more than you do now is helpful.

Move.

And install one of them bicycle powered generators for the computer and the TV.

 

[Zuljin]

Just walking 10m a day more than you do now is helpful.

Move.

And install one of them bicycle powered generators for the computer and the TV.

This lot, we'd hook up grain mill motors to the bike.

 

[balrog]

by "10m" I meant "minutes" not "miles"

Yee gads

 

[user 246304]

by "10m" I meant "minutes" not "miles"

Yee gads

Crap. I took you to mean "meters." (j/k - I ain't that bad).

 

[Zuljin]

by "10m" I meant "minutes" not "miles"

Yee gads

I'm still going to need that pared down some.

 

[seatazzz]

The only thing that saved me from becoming a huge blob was taking a second part-time job in a warehouse as an order filler; rough estimate, I walk at least 5 miles a night, very fast pace, all the time reaching, lifting, and bending. I started last May, and dropped 35 pounds in the first 6 months. Happy at 130 for the first time in almost 20 years (I'm 5'2"). Also, not enough time to enjoy my beer!

 

[Qhrumphf]

Powerlifting. I lift heavy for about 90 minutes 4 days/wk (focus on low rep high weight for the big four- deadlift, squat, bench, strict press, followed by higher rep lower weight related accessory stuff, chest and quads are focused days, then i work back with DL and arms with shoulders).

And a day or two a week of either Crossfit-type stuff (I dig most Crossfit workouts but hate the culture) or playing footy (though I've given thought to taking rugby back up as I'm better built for it, but haven't played it since I was a lad and wifey is scared I'll hurt myself or someone else).

Build enough muscle mass and your metabolism spikes so high that a "standard" 2000 calorie diet combined with complete lethargy equals weight loss.

4000 cal/day diet and lots of carbs, which as I eat fairly cleanly leaves plenty of room in my macros for beer.

I'm 245 lbs and wear 33-34 jeans depending on the brand. Body fat is *slightly* high at 20% (all in the gut/torso), but muscle mass alone exceeds a "healthy" BMI by a good 20 lbs (which shows how useless that metric is- a "healthy" BMI would kill me).

There's some older gents at my gym who lift really big, so age alone isn't a limitation.

 

[applescrap]

Good GOD, man!

I've not seen sub-200 since I was in graduate school, about a hunert years ago.

I haven't seen sub 200 since 9th grade! I guess some ducks have all the luck. I think genetics play some role. That's my rationalization

 

[applescrap]

I think I may have carried more as a swimmer but it actually was a bit tough as I was a distance competitor - and back then the way you trained a distance guy was to say "8 1500's. See you later." That's 4:30 am or so, then repeat 2:30 - on. Once I got a bit older and moved to stamina events (e.g., 400 m freestyle, 400 m I.M.), I did put on some mass. After college, I got serious about lifting and held about 215, 6'3.

It was living inside a dojo as a direct apprentice to a zen and martial master that really kicked the crap out of everything. I couldn't add weight to save my life. I wish I could have borrowed from now.

Have to say, first, I'm so impressed with you guys being able to do this. And braconniere, I have to say, that seriously impressed me. All the above puts me to shame.

So, I can't work out, save a 15-20 minute walk and even then I pay for it. It sucks but it is what it is. I don't see how I could eat my way into a program allowing it, but you've given a lot of beer for thought. Thanks, everyone.

Edit: Miraculix, just picked up your martial arts mention. Thanks for the link, will check it out. Much like distance swimming, I couldn't keep any wait on at the dojo mostly, I think, because I and a few other uchideshi never stopped training, or teaching at a certain point. Not sure if your joint wear came from your experiences training, but mine sure did, especially the spinal chord (it gifted me with what I have now, 20 years later). For about a year, if I was walking with my wife and sneezed, I was down. Hard to explain that one. No cartilage left at the symphysis, where the hips join, so brutal throws had me going bone on bone, hours a day. Good times!

Working out should be done for the heart not for weight. Or at least as we get older. A 15 minute walk or longer 3 to 5 times a week Is enough for Heart health. Losing weight is about how much food you put into your body. I know a lot of skinny fat people who are thin but they're not very in shape. We pass them on the trails all the time. Me my sister and my brother have all elicited massive weight loss through exercise. I have personally done it 3 or 4 times in my life. Liposuction is the same. It always comes back because it's not a lifestyle change. My problem isn't just the beer but the beer is a problem because I Like high calory beers. It's all the ship that I'm eating after I've had a few and aren't making a better decision. My buddy has been on a food plan where he eats these little bars and things 5 times A-day. He has lost a lot weight. Just like slim fast, liposuction, or exercising the 2nd you stop it will come back. Focus on the diet and make a calorical plan And your exercising will be enough to keep you Healthy.

 

[user 246304]

Powerlifting. I lift heavy for about 90 minutes 4 days/wk (focus on low rep high weight for the big four- deadlift, squat, bench, strict press, followed by higher rep lower weight related accessory stuff, chest and quads are focused days, then i work back with DL and arms with shoulders).

And a day or two a week of either Crossfit-type stuff (I dig most Crossfit workouts but hate the culture) or playing footy (though I've given thought to taking rugby back up as I'm better built for it, but haven't played it since I was a lad and wifey is scared I'll hurt myself or someone else).

Build enough muscle mass and your metabolism spikes so high that a "standard" 2000 calorie diet combined with complete lethargy equals weight loss.

4000 cal/day diet and lots of carbs, which as I eat fairly cleanly leaves plenty of room in my macros for beer.

I'm 245 lbs and wear 33-34 jeans depending on the brand. Body fat is *slightly* high at 20% (all in the gut/torso), but muscle mass alone exceeds a "healthy" BMI by a good 20 lbs (which shows how useless that metric is- a "healthy" BMI would kill me).

There's some older gents at my gym who lift really big, so age alone isn't a limitation.

That's an impressive routine, Qhrumphf. I never powerlifted but I got into serious lifting after college and enjoyed it a lot. Stayed with it for several decades, until I began martial arts training (well, as an adult, as I trained when young) and moved into a dojo and zen temple.

Due to a serious, total body neurological issue, I'm unable to do much. Sometimes I need a walker, sometimes not, but anything, even walking around the block, usually spells a big payback later. So basically, with all of what you guys are saying - stay with me now, takes me awhile - is that absent working out, unlikely I can justify drinking volumes of good ale nightly, and not go to 375. Dang. Almost sure there was a way.

Thanks for your input, guys. It has been nice to see your routines, too. Though this condition first started about 10 years ago and is considered permanent, you never know. I use to run steep hillsides and weight heavy on alternate days. I don't think I'll ever return to marathon swimming, but who knows.